Users commonly consume multimedia content that includes both video images and corresponding audio content. For example, a user may play a video game by concurrently viewing images presented upon a display and listening to the corresponding audio content. Similarly, the user may watch a movie or other video that includes both video images and corresponding audio content. Audio and video content is increasingly consumed by users utilizing their mobile devices. For example, audio and video content may be consumed by smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, portable audio and video players, portable video game players, or the like.
While the audio and video content is rendered, the mobile device may be moved relative to the user. For example, a user watching a movie on a tablet computer may tilt the tablet computer in a clockwise direction. The tablet computer generally includes integrated speakers that output the audio corresponding to video images presented upon the display. In response to tilting of the tablet computer, not only is display and the video image presented thereupon tilted, but the speakers that output the audio signals are correspondingly tilted in the same direction and to the same extent. As such, the orientation and trajectory of the audio signals output by the speakers and the images presented upon the display remain consistent with one another.
For example, in an instance in which the video images depict a vehicle moving horizontally from the left to the right across the display, tilting of the tablet computer by 30° in a clockwise direction would cause the images representative of the movement of the vehicle to depict the vehicle moving downwardly and to the right, such as at an angle of −30° relative to horizontal, as a result of the tilting of the tablet computer. The audio content that corresponds to the video images depicting movement of the vehicle would be similarly repositioned as a result of the tilting of the tablet computer and its integrated speakers with the audio content from the speaker(s) on the right side of the tablet computer being output from a lower position than the audio content from the speaker(s) on the left side of the tablet computer. Thus, the audio content remains consistent in orientation and trajectory with the video images following tilting of the tablet computer.
Similarly, video games frequently involve either the intentional or incidental tilting of the video game player. In instances in which the video game player includes integrated speakers, the audio content remains coordinated with the corresponding video images in both orientation and trajectory since both the display that presents the video images and the speakers that output the audio content are tilted in a uniform manner.
In instances in which a user is wearing headphones, however, the audio content is not correspondingly repositioned when the display upon which the corresponding video images are presented is tilted. As such, the audio content may seem somewhat inconsistent in terms of orientation and trajectory to the user as the video images may be presented following tilting of the display so as to no longer be positioned in the same manner as the audio content since the corresponding audio content output by the headphones is not changed in response to tilting of the display. In this regard, even though the integrated speakers of the mobile device do move in correspondence with the display in response to tilting of the mobile device, the audio content is rendered by the headphones and not by the integrated speakers, with the audio content that is rendered by the headphones not having been modified by the tilting of the mobile device and the corresponding repositioning of the video images.
By way of example, in an instance in which the user is watching a movie or playing a video game on a tablet computer, the user may tilt the tablet computer in a clockwise direction. The video images of the movie or video game are correspondingly tilted, also in a clockwise manner, but the audio signals rendered by the headphones worn by the user remain unaffected by the tilting of the tablet computer. As such, video images of a vehicle moving from the left to the right across the display of a tablet computer that has been tilted in a clockwise direction would depict the vehicle moving downwardly and to the right, such as at an angle of −30° relative to horizontal, as a result of the tilting of the tablet computer. However, the audio signals rendered by the headphones will be unaffected by the tilting of the tablet computer such that the audio content rendered by the headphones is still associated with the movement of the vehicle horizontally from the left to the right and not with the reoriented video images in which the vehicle moves downwardly and to the right as a result of the clockwise tilting of the tablet computer. Thus, the audio signals rendered by the headphones may seem inconsistent with the corresponding video images presented by the display of the tablet computer that has been tilted.